Best The Greatest Thing You Ve Never Heard Podcasts (2024)

1
From Paris To The Philippines: Making Sense of Murder | Episode 25 49:18

2d ago49:18

49:18

It's October 1961. The Beatles are in Hamburg, JFK in the White House, Yuri Gagarin has just shot into space. And a state-sponsored killing spree is going down on the streets of a capital city. But this isn't Rio, Washington or Johannesburg. This isn't Moscow or Port-au-Prince or Saigon. This is Paris, the City of LIght, and by the month's end, ove…

1
Trapped History: The Statue Problem — To Raise Up Or To Tear Down? 5:36

3d ago5:36

5:36

In this special bonus episode of the Trapped History podcast, historian Kim Wagner talks statues with Oswin, Carla and MK. How do we critically and sensitively challenge outdated readings of the past? How do we write history again for the modern age? And is there a 'right' way of doing this? We think you'll be surprised by our conclusions. Listen o…

1
Untold Lives: The Power Behind the Throne | Episode 24 41:14

23d ago41:14

41:14

Join Oswin and Carla as we go back – way back – to a time before podcasts and instagram, before radio and photographs. Join us as we journey back to the 18th century and meet the people who made monarchy work. And they're not the people you might expect to meet. At a time when Britain's kings and queens barely spoke the language, please let us intr…

1
Trapped History: The Shah Goest — Zoos, Empire and the Strangest Wild Cat Ever 5:00

1M ago5:00

5:00

With its long tufted ears – sometimes mistaken for horns – the caracal is a precious animal. So precious in fact, that one particular animal was gifted to George II in 1759. Ahead of next week's episode, Mishka Sinha, curator of the Untold Lives exhibition at Kensington Palace, gives Oswin and Carla an exclusive insight into the powers behind the t…

1
Hall of Fame: Mother of the Nation 8:10

1M ago8:10

8:10

We ask all our guests to nominate someone for the Trapped History Hall of Fame. Someone we've not heard of but should have. In this Season Four opener, please meet Mishal Husain's nominee: Fatima Jinnah, known as Madr-e-Millat or 'Mother of the Nation', a woman who broke the rules and the barriers as Pakistan emerged from the chaos of Partition. Sh…

1
Trapped History: The Passport 2:00

1M ago2:00

2:00

In an exclusive bonus, Mishal Husain tells us about the chance discovery of her grandfather Shahid's passport. It may seem a small, insignificant thing, a old irrelevant document from another age. But Shahid's passport tells us so much more – about the past but also about the present and perhaps even the future. Because it declared this man born in…

1
Broken Threads: Family, Memory, Loss and Longing | Episode 23 53:47

1M ago53:47

53:47

Mishal Husain joins Oswin and Carla for a truly special Season 4 opener, telling the tale of her family's journey through the stormy waters of Indian and Pakistani independence. It's a story of joy and freedom, but also one of fear, loss and terror. Shahid, Tahirah, Mumtaz and Mary live through Empire, world war, independence and partition. They me…

1
Jeremy Corbyn Redux: The Charlotte Despard of the 21st Century | Episode 22 48:01

2M ago48:01

48:01

With Jeremy Corbyn announcing that he’s standing as an independent in the upcoming general election, we thought we should revisit his time in the Trapped History studio. This all-new ‘director’s cut’ contains golden nuggets on the French and American Revolutions and on Charlotte’s campaigning for animal rights. It’s a real treat! On top of that, th…

1
Hall of Fame: Guitars, Light Shows And The Reluctant Leader 3:46

5M ago3:46

3:46

Guitars, light shows, psychedelia . . . Any idea who might unexpectedly be making their way into the Hall of Fame? Tune in to hear Martin Gutmann's nominee. We guarantee you'll have heard of them before but not necessarily for Martin's reasons. It's a truly fascinating listen which might change the way you think about bands, friends and music.…

1
The Hidden Leader: Why Roald Amundsen Won The Race To The Pole | Episode 21 40:47

5M ago40:47

40:47

He's the greatest explorer the world has ever known – the first to navigate the fabled North-West Passage, the first to reach the South Pole, the first to the impossible North. But how much do we really know about Roald Amundsen? More precisely, how much do we want to know? Surely, the tangled heroics of Scott of the Antarctic and of Ernest Shackle…

1
Trapped History: Winston Churchill And The Action Fallacy 2:14

5M ago2:14

2:14

Didn’t think we’d need to introduce you to Winston Churchill on Trapped History, but if you want to understand the hidden traits of leadership, he’s actually quite important. Though not necessarily for the reasons you might think . . . Tune in to hear Professor Martin Gutmann discuss the ‘Action Fallacy’ in this exclusive bonus episode. It’s not ju…

1
Trapped History: The Hero's Journey 0:59

5M ago0:59

0:59

The Hero's Journey is an ancient human phenomenon. We see it, hear it, read it in stories all the way from the Odyssey to Harry Potter. It is a gripping tale of triumph over adversity, of crisis and fulfillment. But sometimes we need more than heroes. Tune in to hear Professor Martin Gutmann challenge the way the Hero's Journey has been used to tea…

1
Hall of Fame: Daughters Of Africa 3:23

5M ago3:23

3:23

We ask all our guests to nominate someone for the Trapped History Hall of Fame. Someone we've not heard of but should have. Most of our nominees are long gone – but Dee Jarrett-Macauley follows in the footsteps of Pete Paphides and nominates someone who is well and truly alive and kicking: the great publisher and writer Margaret Busby, whose Daught…

1
Una Marson: More Clever, More Wise, More Discreet, More Courageous | Episode 20 41:30

5M ago41:30

41:30

Poet, playwright, publisher. Campaigner, broadcaster, journalist. Six people in one, but if we've heard of Una Marson, it's usually because of her brief shining moment during the Second World War when she became the voice and face of the Caribbean through her pioneering work at the BBC. Tune in to hear about the six lives of Una Marson as Oswin and…

1
Trapped History: Kinky Hair Blues 1:22

5M ago1:22

1:22

Una Marson's politics and poetry come together so powerfully in her famed 'Kinky Hair Blues' from 1937. Life-affirming but ultimately heartbreaking, the poem sets out the internal battles a young Black woman goes through as she tries to fit into a world which doesn't fit around her. It's one of Una's greatest poems, alongside 'Cinema Eyes' tackling…

1
Trapped History: She Had Things To Say 2:54

6M ago2:54

2:54

As we limber up for next week's new episode about the great Una Marson, join us for this exclusive bonus about her international work. We know Una now as the voice and face of the BBC's wartime 'Caribbean Voices' but she was so much more, representing women of colour at major international conferences and working with world leaders like Haile Selas…

1
Hall of Fame: The Most Beautiful Music I've Ever Heard 2:23

6M ago2:23

2:23

We ask all our guests to nominate someone for the Trapped History Hall of Fame. Someone we've not heard of but should have. Most guests nominate someone who's, well, dead. But Pete Paphides joins Polly Vacher in nominating a living legend. In this case, the mesmeric Paolo Conte, Italy's answer to Tom Waits. Listen to Pete's nomination exclusively h…

1
Blues Run The Game: The Lost World of Jackson C Frank | Episode 19 42:49

6M ago42:49

42:49

See if you can join the dots – Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, Nick Drake, Sandy Denny, The Beatles. Well, there’s one man who sits at the centre of it all, and it’s more than likely that you won’t have heard of him: Jackson C Frank. A damaged, wounded singer-songwriter who wowed the British folk scene and presaged psychedelia and pu…

1
Trapped History: Jackson C Frank | The Album 3:36

6M ago3:36

3:36

Here's another exclusive bonus as we wait to drop Jackson's episode later this week. Listen to Pete Paphides dissect three of Jackson's key tracks (you'll have to wait for the main episode for his thoughts on Blues Run The Game). Main episode out on 18th January.By trappedhistory

1
Trapped History: A Trick Of The Light 2:46

6M ago2:46

2:46

We've got a taster for you today to whet your appetite for next week's episode on the lost and forgotten singer, Jackson C Frank. The music journalist Pete Paphides joins us to join the dots between Jackson, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Elvis and even The Beatles. It's a fascinating story so here's a few bonus moments as Pete paints the picture of Jackso…

1
Hall of Fame: The German Amelia Earhart 4:49

6M ago4:49

4:49

Every episode, we ask our guest to nominate someone for the Trapped History Hall of Fame: someone we haven't heard of but really should have. Today, it's the turn of @that.spitfire.bird, instagram's very own Jo Rogers. We take a quick detour into Tilly Shilling's orifice – no, really! – before finding out what a Messerschmitt 108 turned up when it …

1
Spitfires, Wellingtons and Anything in Between: Pauline Gower and the Barnstorming Women of the ATA | Episode 18 34:01

7M ago34:01

34:01

The Battle of Britain is at its height. Spitfires and Hurricanes urgently need to get from the factories to the airfields and into the hands of ‘the Few’. Step forward Pauline Gower, a pioneering pilot of the 1930s, who alongside the 168 women who she brought into the Air Transport Auxiliary, would help ferry over 300,000 planes from where they wer…

1
Hall of Fame: The Shepherd Cannot Run 3:51

7M ago3:51

3:51

Every episode, we ask our guest to nominate someone for the Trapped History Hall of Fame: someone we haven't heard of but really should have. As it's the holiday season, today we have a twofer for you: first, there's Peter's light-hearted nomination of the explorer Richard Burton, in all his magnificent messiness. And then, hear about the courageou…

1
The Steamship Hajj: How Empire, Fear and Greed Took on Religion | Episode 17 40:13

7M ago40:13

40:13

In 1880, the SS Jeddah was steaming across the Indian Ocean when her captain abandoned ship. He told his rescuers the 1,000 passengers had mutinied and that the ship had sunk. But this was a lie and the case became a cause celebre of British disregard – because the Jeddah’s passengers weren’t any ordinary passengers. They were Indonesian and Malays…

1
Hall of Fame: The Phoenix of America 2:40

7M ago2:40

2:40

Every episode, we ask our guest to nominate someone for the Trapped History Hall of Fame: someone we haven't heard of but really should have. Tune in this week to hear Jeremy Corbyn's nomination – the quite brilliant Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a Mexican writer, poet and philosopher from four centuries ago, variously known as The Phoenix of America …

1
The Radical’s Radical: Charlotte Despard and the Age of Protest | Episode 16 39:07

7M ago39:07

39:07

She was a super-rich romantic novelist, sister to one of the most famous men in late-Victorian England. And then, out of nowhere, Charlotte Despard suddenly finds her true calling. Over the next 40 years, she is a suffragette, a socialist, a peace campaigner, an animal rights activist and an Irish nationalist. So who better to help Oswin and Carla …

1
A Delicate And Dangerous Job: Evelyn Dunbar And Female War Art | Episode 15 35:18

1y ago35:18

35:18

Evelyn Dunbar was the only full-time female war artist in World War II. She recorded an almost exclusively female experience of war, painting Land Girls and members of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force going about their work. Meticulously, quietly and with an air of supreme concentration. Join Oswin, Carla and the art historian Frances Spalding as we…

1
Ben Ferencz And the Quest For World Peace | Episode 14 33:48

1y ago33:48

33:48

He was a war hero but never felt that he was. Ben Ferencz was sickened to the core by his experience of battling through Europe in 1945 – and of uncovering horrific evidence of war crimes, atrocities and genocide. And so he decided to do something about it. Tune in to hear the compelling story of the last of the Nuremberg prosecutors in the company…

1
Controlling The Message Of Black Boy Lane | Episode 13 33:42

1y ago33:42

33:42

John La Rose is one of the most important – and most overlooked – cultural icons of the last 60 years. Helping to forge a Black British identity, he set up dozens of political, cultural and community organisations and campaigned for justice for the victims of police brutality and of the New Cross Fire. So earlier this year, it seemed obvious – and …

1
The Women Who Ran The Resistance | Episode 12 35:21

1y ago35:21

35:21

You're falling through the sky above Belgium after your bomber has been hit. It's August 1941 and you're an RAF front gunner. Who will save you when you land? Who will look after you, hide you, keep you safe? Who will get you home? Meet the women of the Resistance, Dédée, Tante Go and countless others – the women of the Comet Line. Join Carla, Oswi…

1
The Indian Imperialist | Episode 11 34:37

1y ago34:37

34:37

Meet Cornelia Sorabji, an Indian woman who broke through barriers – the first woman at an Indian university, the first woman to study law anywhere, the first woman to plead a criminal case in a British-run court. And yet, Cornelia was also an arch-imperialist, extolling the British Empire, castigating Gandhi and dismissing the Indian independence m…

1
Eurovision Special: The Song Contest Which Ended the Cold War | Episode 10 38:06

1y ago38:06

38:06

With Eurovision upon us, join Oswin and Carla in a special episode of Trapped History as we take a look back at the song contest's history and lift the Iron Curtain on Eurovision's big brother: Intervision and the incredible Sopot Song Festival. Tune in to hear the Northern Soul Legend Sam Jones tell us all about the time she won Sopot – and what J…

1
How The Newsies Beat The Press Barons | Episode 9 35:15

1+ y ago35:15

35:15

Thrill to the story of the boys and girls who took on the richest men in America: and won. It's 1899, we're in New York and the 'newsies' – the boys and girls who sell papers on the city's streets – have had enough. Join Oswin, Carla and six young people from today as we time travel 125 years to find out about Kid Blink, Joseph Pulitzer and how new…

1
Hall of Fame: The Silent And Unseen 2:05

1+ y ago2:05

2:05

Tune in to hear Clare Mulley's nomination for the Trapped History Hall of Fame.By trappedhistory

1
The Women Who Flew For Hitler | Episode 8 34:25

1+ y ago34:25

34:25

In earlier episodes, we have featured women who have flown the world and men who have flown for freedom. But what about the courageous, pioneering women who powered the Nazi war machine? Join Oswin and Carla as we learn about the troubled and troubling lives of Hanna Reitsch and Melitta von Stauffenberg. The acclaimed historian, Clare Mulley, guide…

1
Hall of Fame: The Genius in the Library 5:00

1+ y ago5:00

5:00

It's Hall of Fame time! Tune in to hear an extended nomination from Sums of Anarchy's wonderful Dominique Miranda. This has everything: revolution, freedom and poetry, with a smattering of maths thrown in . . .By trappedhistory

1
Einstein's Greatest Mathematician | Episode 7 38:03

1+ y ago38:03

38:03

Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. In this episode, we find out about Emmy Noether, the greatest mathematician of the 20th century. Emmy fought multiple prejudices all her life – she was a woman, she was Jewish and she came from a left-wing family. And this was Germany before the Nazis, already one of the most conservative…

1
Hall of Fame: Helping Ukrainian Refugees 2:41

1+ y ago2:41

2:41

Polly Vacher's nomination for the Trapped History Hall of Fame is a true hero of our time.By trappedhistory

1
The Women Who Flew The World | Episode 6 36:02

1+ y ago36:02

36:02

Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. In this episode, we find out about Richarda Morrow-Tait, the first woman to fly around the world. Richarda was a bored and lonely young woman in post-war Britain. But she had a dream and she knew that she was the only person who could make it happen. Join Oswin and Carla and the legendary…

1
Remembering The Ordinary With The Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice | Episode 5 42:19

1+ y ago42:19

42:19

Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. But as we hit mid-season, we thought we'd do something slightly different: look at a whole bunch of unsung heroes. The Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice in fact. Join us as we leave the studio and venture out into wintery London to find out about this fascinating place. It's Victorian, bu…

1
The Four Heroic Lives of Johnny Smythe | Episode 4 46:31

1+ y ago46:31

46:31

Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. In this episode, we explore the world of Johnny Smythe – four heroes in one, across three continents. Sierra Leonean Johnny was an RAF bomber navigator, a Prisoner of War, his country's top lawyer and the mastermind behind the Windrush. In this special episode, Oswin and Carla are joined …

1
Adelaide Hall: The Greatest Singer You've Never Heard Of! | Episode 3 36:55

1+ y ago36:55

36:55

Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. In this episode, we explore the world of Adelaide Hall, the greatest singer we’d never heard of. Ella Fitzgerald called her the first lady of jazz. She was the first to dance the Charleston, one of the richest Black women in America, the highest paid female entertainer in Britain during t…

1
The Enigma of Peter Stevens | Episode 2 43:37

1+ y ago43:37

43:37

Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. In this episode, we explore the world of Peter Stevens, a complex courageous man who speaks to our age more than anyone we've come across before. Peter is a chancer, a thief, a scrounger and a fraudster. But he's also a genuine war hero. And one of the most complicated, hidden and secreti…

1
Nellie Bly: The Greatest Person Ever! | Episode 1 42:24

1+ y ago42:24

42:24

Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. In this episode, we explore the world of Nellie Bly, one of the greatest people we've never heard of! Nellie was born in the 19th century but she is a 21st century woman. An investigative journalist before the job existed, a travel writer before people knew what to write about, an anthrop…

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